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Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Recent headlines are littered with words about "Islamic inspired" terrorists groups, their atrocities are of course violent but many people forget that other terrorists, including Christians, can pose just as much of a threat. Christian themed terror groups have different ways to get their message across. Two specialists talk tactics with the Ọmọ Oódua and explain why the word "terrorist" is often avoided.

Before revealing the techniques used by Christian associated terrorists groups, (making them unique in size, number and skill), defining them as "Christians" might be seen as politically incorrect. More often than not, Christian terrorist groups are given different labels and are branded right-wing religious terrorist movements which could come from two main types.

James A. Piazza, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, at Pennsylvania State University said to the Ọmọ Oódua that there are terrorist and extremist organizations associated with the “Christian Identity” movement and others associated with fringe, anti-Abortion movements.

A Christian extremist's profile has characteristics which are unlike any other radicals today. Americans associated with Christian-based terrorist groups are thought to be white, with Anglo-Americans, descended from the original settlers of Israel, being favoured over all other denominations. Christian terrorist groups are also "millenarian", in other words they are convinced that they are preparing for judgment day, when a divine cleansing will take place.

However their cutting-edge attacks on the public are rarely labeled terrorist in the media “It’s politically perhaps expeditious and acceptable to go after Islamistic inspired extremism whereas it's not quite as readily acceptable to go after Christian inspired extremism,” Christian Leuprecht Associate Professor in Political Science and Economics at the Royal Military College of Canada, pointed out.

Leuprecht speculates that one reason why it is not politically acceptable to label Christian-inspired radical groups as "terrorist" is because “at least nominally, however pluralistic these societies are sociologically, they think of themselves as Christian.” Society may not be willing to accept the word "terrorism" when applied to Christianity because they associate themselves with the religion.

Strategically speaking, Christian terrorist groups have an agenda to follow. The reason that these “bible-inspired” terrorist networks launch their attacks to begin with is entirely different than Islamic-inspired groups. Their advances are geared toward changing public opinion on a specific policy or issue. Their objectives are to try to persuade the government to take action and change something that deeply disturbs them.

Though, why do they have a different approach to Islamic inspired groups? “The right-wing Christian groups know that they need public support for their cause. If the public is against them, then they know that they are not going to be able to make an effective change,” admitted Leuprecht to Ọmọ Oódua

In terms of statistics, right-wing groups’ activities have a larger amount of attacks. According to a report from the Southern Poverty Law Center, 56 percent of plots and attacks were initiated by right-wing extremists, 30 percent by eco-terrorists, and a mere 12 percent by Islamic extremist groups.

Additionally, the number of terrorist attacks carried out on a domestic level are far greater in number than those originating abroad. However, terrorist events instigated by transnational groups, such as al-Qaeda, leave a much bigger mess for society to clean up.

No matter what kind of religion is associated with terrorism though, Christian inspired or otherwise, the fact remains that it still plays a role in our society. The real challenge for government is getting to the root source of a terrorist unit before they firstly, attack and secondly, gain more converts.

“Obviously, terrorism is a security concern, but it is a rare event that affects relatively few people compared to ordinary crimes,” revealed Piazza. Still, no matter how large or small in number these attacks are, law enforcement agencies are trying to keep the threat from destructive acts under controlRead more: http://omoooduarere.blogspot.com/